Abstract
Problem statement: Students’ placement into courses of study in most (if not all) tertiary institutions in Nigeria had long been a problematic exercise. Most students get placed into courses of study they are ill suited to and then for which they are ill prepared. Approach: This research focused on the polytechnic, taking the newest federal polytechnic as a case study, that is, Federal Polytechnic Damaturu. The research tries to design a predictive model for the purpose of placing incoming students from the Pre-National Diploma (Pre-ND) programme, into courses of study based on the students’ performance at the Pre-ND level. The classification model sought to assign a student into a course of study, through the analysis of subjects scores at the Pre-ND level. Results: Discriminate analysis technique was applied and results obtained indicated different subjects in the different courses as the strongest contributors for the placement of students into different courses of study. The science courses have similar subjects as strong contributors, while the management courses share the same subjects mix as contributors to a student’s placement into a course. Conclusion: The natures of the models constitute discriminate factors and the potential for its improvement in future are also discussed in the research.
Highlights
The Nigerian Tertiary Education system is composed of two tiers; the universities and the polytechnics
The principal objective of this study is to develop a statistical model that can be used to set a standard for placing Pre-National Diploma (Pre-National Diploma (ND)) students into the right ND programmer based on their Pre-ND results
Discriminant Analysis (DA): As a multivariate technique is concerned with the investigation of the relationships between a known grouping of the data and the variables recorded i.e., for investigating or grouping cases with similar characteristics and to identify a mathematical function which in turn exhibits differences among observed groups
Summary
The Nigerian Tertiary Education system is composed of two tiers; the universities and the polytechnics (including Colleges of Education). Over the years, (since 1976), the Polytechnic s have proven to be a viable alternative to the University sector. Infect it offers the entire degree and sub degree course for the prospective applicants. There is high redundancy rate and student retention in the Polytechnics. This coincided with the downward spiral in the quality and quantity of the graduates of the Nigerian tertiary institutions. The polytechnics offer a graduated entry point for a lot of applicants, by going through a pre-degree programme much a la A-levels, for one year. Between the National Diploma and the Higher National Diploma (HND) there is one year interregnum for practical Industrial attachment
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